Higley board tentatively approves FY27 M&O budget and approves salary schedules and contracts; member urges review of experience pay

The Higley Unified School District governing board held its third review of the district's 2026'27 maintenance and operations (M&O) budget and took a series of actions including tentative approval of the FY27 M&O budget, adoption of salary schedules effective July 1, 2026, and approval of employee contracts.

Finance lead Rushkamp told the board the budget going into July 1, 2026, increased by roughly $450,000 and that the district plans a reduced M&O-to-capital transfer of $3,250,000 to cover middle school leases. Rushkamp said earlier projections showed a $7.4 million deficit and that updated estimates now indicate the district will budget to a deficit and use approximately $6,000,000 of fund balance to close the gap: "So right now, it's looking that there will be about a $6,000,000 use of fund balance," Rushkamp said.

After the presentation the board moved to tentatively approve the fiscal year 2026'27 M&O budget to allow issuance of employee contracts for the coming year; the motion carried 5-0.

On salary schedules, board member Glover proposed amending certified teacher contract language to recognize up to 15 years of prior experience (the current cap referenced in contract language was 10 years). Glover argued the change would better reward long-serving teachers and help recruitment: "I wanted to propose to move that to 15," he said, calling it a compromise that could help retain experienced teachers. Other members expressed concerns about immediate fiscal impact and potential wage compression across different pay schedules. District staff cautioned that changing one schedule without fully analyzing other schedules could create budget and compression issues.

Despite the discussion and requests for additional financial analysis, the board voted to approve the 2026'27 salary schedules as presented, effective July 1, 2026. The board also approved employee contracts for the coming year; both votes were recorded as 5-0.

Votes at a glance: - Tentative approval of FY27 M&O budget (agenda item 7.1): approved 5-0. - Approval of 2026'27 salary schedules (agenda item 7.2): approved 5-0. (Glover proposed a future change to cap recognized experience at 15 years; staff will analyze fiscal implications.) - Approval of 2026'27 employee contracts (agenda item 7.3): approved 5-0.

Board members asked for continued transparency and for staff to share more granular analyses about the possible financial impact of any future changes to experience recognition and other compensation policies. One board member suggested moving any substantive changes to future budget cycles to allow time for modeling and to avoid immediate pressure on a budget facing a projected deficit.

The meeting adjourned with a request to update Policy IJJ to include a process for deleting supplemental materials and a possible 3'5-year sunset review process for supplemental materials.